Hi guys im new here just got my 1:10 newbright fj cruiser today and I drove it once with a 7.2 volt battery and I love it. What can you suggest the best mods would be? also how do I water proof it? Im not new to rc just crawlers. Will the 7.2 battery hurt it I really am dont do electric rcs much so I dont understand the volts and megaherts. Thanks

The car is rated for 9.6V (and should have included it in the package) so you should run it with a 9.6V battery. A 7.2V battery will get the motors to turn, but with less power. It probably won't damage the electronics, but it's better to be safe than sorry, so just use 9.6V.

I switched my 9.6 (included with the 1:6 jeep) for a 7.2 300mah hobby pack with stock electronics and the thing was ok. It all hobby now though

The stock 9.6v battery sucks, it's only 600 mah. You can buy better batteries at radio shack or towerhobies.com. The radio shack battery that I already had is 1000 mah so it will last longer. If you can find a nickel metal battery go with that. Nicad bat have memroy so you have to run them down all the way before you recharge.

I bought a 1600 mAh battery with charger at the shack during their christmas specials for $10. It lasts a lot longer than the original battery. Tower sells the batteries for pretty cheap too.

that pack uses the (A) cell type not much run time in them.you need the c.cell type .also you need to go above 2000mha for a long run time.. http://www.matrixpilot.com/product.php?productid=191

quote:

Originally posted by Monkeyracer:
I bought a 1600 mAh battery with charger at the shack during their christmas specials for $10. It lasts a lot longer than the original battery. Tower sells the batteries for pretty cheap too.

THESE ARE NOT MUCH GOOD.

Will those even fit in the stock holder?

And for $46 bucks, I'm just happy having to switch out the batteries when they run out.

You could run two batteries in parallel to increase run time, and add weight to the front axle in the process.

Those batteries have been just fine for me for a few years now, runtime is decent, so why do they suck so much?

no they will not fit in the stock holder .you will have to put them inside the chassie.not so hard to do .and if you put hobby grade stick packs in you wouldent need to change them out well not for a good while .its the only way to go .the (A)cells give very littel run time.i know anything is better than stock but if you whant a good run from your truck i would look at 9.6 volt stick packs .if you drop to 7.2 you will find it underpowerd.

Ok, so for what fits, the RS batteries are just fine. 1600 mAh is almost 3 times the rating of the stock NB battery.

If you're putting the battery on the chassis (raising the COG) then you're having to remove the body each time you want to change the battery. Plus with the higher COG, it's less capable as a crawler.
If you are talking about leaving the battery in the car to charge it, then that means you can only use that ONE battery, so when it dies, you have to take the whole car inside to charge the battery.

I think that is a huge inconvenience either way just to get an extra few minutes out of it.

If you swap out to hobby grade stuff you can get some 7.2V NiMH 3500 mAh batteries for about $25 and you'll have a little bit better control for crawling with the better D/P.

ok first 1600mah is nothing even though its 3 times stock i use 4000mah. the body ok this site is all about moding your truck.take out the screws and fitt body posts.ok (cog) you are moving the batterie a littel higher. but the added weight of a stick pack more than makes up for this . it will be more stable.ok less voltage= less power= less tourq.not good.for crawling.and with a decent batterie its a lot more than a exstra few minutes.

If you change to hobby grade electrics, most are rated for 7.2V, and there is a lot more options for aftermarket 7.2V stick packs. (My LHS has an entire shelf aisle for 7.2V packs, and a small tiny little row for other batteries.) A lot of hobby grade stuff will work with 9.6V stuff, though.
If there are no mods done to it, or if the end user doesn't want to cut anything or change to body posts, etc, then the highest rated 9.6V pack that will fit in the stock holder is somewhere around 1600 mAh, due to the nature of the size of the cell. A custom pack can be made that will use higher capacity cells though.

The original poster wanted to know if using the 7.2V on stock electronics would damage them. The stock electronics will handle the voltage, but at a cost of performance in the end.

I have swapped my Radio Shack truck from a stock 9.6V set up to a 7.2V hobby grade set up and even with the stock motor I was able to get a higher top speed and higher torque, simply because the new electronics were capable of sending the motor more amperage. When I plug in my 9.6V battery the end result is the same since the speed controller limits the voltage to the motor.

The original poster wanted to know what the best mods would be, and to fjcrawler: it depends on what you want for the outcome vs. your planned budget.

Crawler - Stretch chassis for longer reach, 4-link suspension for better articulation, flapding or aftermarket shocks for better articulation and damping, new chassis (lightweight, also provides a place to mount the 4-links), hobby electrics for better control and range, higher torque motor for more torque, lower gear ratio for more torque, tread removal or new 2.2 tires for better traction.

Rock Racer - 4-link, stretch chassis, hobby electrics, brushless motors and ESC for high speed, LiPo battery, new shocks, better tires to handle the higher speed and provide better traction.

Budget crawler - 4 link (i made mine for about $20 or less with steel tubing, traxxas rod ends, and set screws), lexan chassis (home depot, $4), jameco motors ($3 each, plus shipping), Cut treads (free), extended shock shafts (used leftover tubing from 4-link) so around an extra $35 or so.

buddie what are you trying to say any body can cut and paste. you started out with a batterie problem now you talking about hobby grade electronics its a hole different ball game with hobby grade my friend i should know iam hobby grade i junkd the newbright stuff long ago.and i still run 9.6 volts. with 7.2 volts the motors are getting just over 31/2 volts each the esc splits this now with 9.6 volts the motors are getting just over 41/2 volts each that extra volt and a half makes a difference to the motors tourq factor.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: hot shocks,

I was trying to answer the questions that the original poster asked rather than argue about this and that for 10 posts.

I'll try and test my truck on my voltmeter later when I get home to see the difference my motor is getting between 9.6V and 7.2V.

ok but realy it the amps that count not so much the volts . but i will not go into detail here iam a electrical engineer buy trade .so i should know what iam talking about.

quote:

Originally posted by Monkeyracer:
I have swapped my Radio Shack truck from a stock 9.6V set up to a 7.2V hobby grade set up and even with the stock motor I was able to get a higher top speed and higher torque, simply because the new electronics were capable of sending the motor more amperage. When I plug in my 9.6V battery the end result is the same since the speed controller limits the voltage to the motor.

I hate arguing with someone that agrees with me...

yes limits the volts not the amps as i said early on .set your volt meter to amps and meshure again.no good having electrical test equpment if you dont know how to use it wich of course you dont i hate talking to idiots

This message has been edited. Last edited by: hot shocks,

Sweet, I'm done, hot shocks is too cool for school.

You were just saying that you get 3.5 volts on 7.2 and 4.5 volts on 9.6. So I argued that the end output for me between the two would be the same since the motor is still getting the same amperage and voltage, since it is regulated.

I know enough about electricity to know what I am talking about here. There are a lot of factors to deal with in electrical circuits, and now that we're off the original topic, I'll elaborate for those of us who don't have an electrical engineering degree...

Current - rate of flow of electrons measured in amps
Voltage - Total drop between two given points measured in volts
Resistance/impedance - The resistance of the flow of electrons measured in ohms

When voltage is increased, and impedance remains the same, the current increases.

If the voltage drops, while impedance remains the same, the current will drop as well.

Compare this to plumbing; where voltage would be the water pressure, current is the speed at which the water will flow, and impedance is the size of the pipe.

If you increase the pressure of the system but leave the pipe the same size, the water will flow faster.

If you add a pressure regulator, then regardless of whether or not you increase the beginning pressure, the output pressure and flow will be the same.

This is in effect what is happening with a speed controller. The speed controller has the ability to alter the output pressure to modulate the output of the motor. There is a small difference with 9.6V and 7.2V on my ESC, but due to the voltage regulator, this is almost a negligible amount.

On stock electronics, to retain a low cost solution to a speed controller, inexpensive FET's are used. These are basically gates or valves that the electricity flows through. If the current becomes too high, the FET's will block some current to protect the system from overheating (that's what those heat sinks are for attached to on the stock board.) These gates don't regulate the voltage, just the current. So when the voltage increases and impedance remains the same, the output current will increase.

Voltmeters measure voltage, ammeters measure the current in a system, ohmmeters measure the resistance. Multimeters will have one or more of the above meters. So, my VOLTMETER will measure the voltage and ONLY the voltage, and my MULTIMETER (which has an ammeter built in) can measure the current.

Long enough post to prove that I know a little bit about it, enough to shut you up or is there more you would like to add to go even further off topic?

i know enough to know that this is a cut and paste article from a web site and that you know absoulitley nothing aboute electricals and would be better of with a nitro buggie , just leave electricals to experts like me and go and buy yourself a nitro buggie far more up your street.your as thick as as a plank of wood.

what are you basing this from. I know **** well what I'm talking about. Voltmeters will measure voltage, and not current as you previously stated. Multimeters have the ability to select their mode to an ammeter to measure current.

There's no cut and paste going on, I know electrical circuits from my old car audio days.

Nitro? really? Thick as a plank of wood? what thickness of wood would I be compared to?

Ok, solve this electrical system:

Voltage - 9.6V
Current - Unknown
Impedance - 3.2 ohms

Voltage - 7.2V
Current - Unknown
Impedance - 2.4 ohms

Find the rate of flow between the two systems, and which system has the higher rate of flow?

This is not from a text book, website or anything. I already have the answer to this, and could calculate almost any system given enough parts of the equation.

Stop underestimating my abilities and admit agreement that we both know enough of what we are talking about.